Physical Blast Simulation News Today

A critical challenge of any blast simulation facility is in producing the widest possible pressure-impulse range for matching against equivalent high-explosive events. Shock tubes and blast simulators are often constrained with the lack of effective ways to control blast wave profiles and as a result have a limited performance range. Some wave shaping techniques employed in some facilities are reviewed but often necessitate extensive geometric modifications, inadvertently cause flow anomalies, a...

The current state of blast resistant design methods is largely reliant on empirical observations of field explosive testing or numerical simulations. While both methods are undoubtedly vital and necessary, they both have inherent limitations. Field trials for performing systematic experimental studies are exceedingly expensive, produce inconsistent results, and are slow in the rate of testing. Conventional blast simulators (shock tubes) enable blast testing to be performed in a safe and controll...